Using the Problem Tree and Objective Tree Analysis, Calamansi farmer-leaders identified problems in the industry and came up with possible solutions.

VICTORIA, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines – The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), in partnership with the Mindoro State College of Agriculture and Technology (MinSCAT) and the local government of Victoria, Oriental Mindoro, conducted a re-echoing workshop on Results-based Monitoring and Evaluation (RBME) on 31 January to 2 February 2017 at the MinSCAT campus for the Piloting and Upscaling Effective Models of Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development (ISARD) program. MinSCAT spearheaded the activity attended by farmer-leaders who are members of the SEARCA-organized Victoria Kalamansi Farmers Federation (VKFF) and agricultural technologists and technicians of Victoria LGU. ISARD Project team members and other faculty members, researchers, and staff of MinSCAT who also wanted to improve their research skills and learn specific methodologies in conducting transdisciplinary action researches also participated in the workshop.

This activity is an off-shoot of the Training-Workshop on Results-based Monitoring and Evaluation for ISARD conducted by SEARCA in August 2016, which served as a forum for SEARCA partners to learn and act collaboratively in understanding, developing, and utilizing an RBME system within the context of ISARD, anchored on building and empowering human and institutional capacities.

Farmers discussing the RBME planThe RBME re-echoing training-workshop in Victoria, under the ISARD Pilot Project titled Revitalizing the Calamansi Industry in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro through Strengthening Linkages among Farmers, LGU, NGAs, SUC, CSOs and the Private Sector, aimed to provide a general overview of the role of measurement for determining project performance and success. Apart from the ISARD Piloting program, RBME can also be applied in other relevant RD&E projects of MinSCAT, agriculture-related programs of Victoria LGU, and in conducting basic farm-level monitoring and evaluation of the VKFF members.

Basic M&E concepts and principles; situation, scenario, and stakeholder analysis and organization and management; the basic RBME framework; and sustainability planning of the Project using the RBME System, were covered. And by the end of the training-workshop, an RBME plan for the ISARD Calamansi pilot project, with inputs directly provided by the primary stakeholders and direct beneficiaries, was completed. A monitoring team was also organized to operationalize and facilitate the implementation of the RBME Plan.

Training of enumerators for the farm and household surveySimultaneous to the RBME Training-Workshop, SEARCA conducted the initial phase of the farm and household baseline survey of the VKFF members. The VKFF is composed of farmer leaders from different calamansi farmer organizations in Victoria, which were organized specifically for the ISARD Pilot Project. The data collected will not only serve as inputs in the RBME system, but also for a socio-economic impact evaluation that will be conducted upon completion of the ISARD Piloting project in 2018.

A project team for the ISARD Piloting Project from SEARCA Research and Development Department developed the survey instrument that aimed to generate farm information on financing, production and marketing, as well as collect household data on consumption patterns, income and expenditure, and household profiling. SEARCA also conducted the training of enumerators and actual initial interview of selected farmer leaders.

The ISARD Calamansi Project in Mindoro is one of two ISARD pilot projects in the Philippines, under SEARCA's flagship program on Piloting and Upscaling Effective Models of ISARD. (Henry M. Custodio and Angelic M. Reglos)